White BLANKET
The life in Kashmir remained affected after valley received fresh snowfall on the eve of New Year. It brought a sigh of relief to the tourists in Gulmarg but for the localities it started creating more problems.
All means of transport were stopped and most importantly in this chilly winter electricity was also snapped. Later on the electricity was restored after 24 hours.
But the patients at valley’s Chest diseases hospital had tougher time as the hospital lacked any other means of electricity during the snowfall. It was only after the protest of attendants that hospital management woke up to the crisis.
The protestors even alleged that the machines in special wards were also not working. In the Kangan area three people were injured, one seriously after they got trapped in a snow avalanche. All the three were rescued but one person is still in serious condition.
Four families including 24 members were also sent to a safer place in view of avalanche in Kulgam area in south Kashmir.
Meanwhile two residential houses also collapsed due to the heavy snow at Hardpora Damhal in Kokernag area.
The traffic on highway resumed after three days for one-way traffic and railway link was restored after two days.
In peripheral areas people still prefer to leave their homes late or they prefer not to take their personal cars in view of the slippery conditions. The night temperature in valley has dipped further resulting in the freezing of snow, which makes all roads slippery.
On one side the Omar government ordered his officials to remain in valley and make all arrangements for people on the other side the opposite parties are crying for the lack of arrangements. People say even the first step, clearance of snow has not been done from the roads.
Helping Daughters
Now poor girls have a reason to be happy. Jammu and Kashmir High Court has stepped in to enable poor girls to live a dignified life and prevent their exploitation. Recently a division bench of Justices Virender Singh and Muzaffar Hussain Attar asked government to formulate an exclusive scheme for already identified around four lakh girls.
The high Court has directed government to give these girls minimum of Rs 25000 each and five grams of gold at the time of their marriage.
But where from this much amount will come, the bench has laid down seven considerations.
Court has asked government to carve out areas in both rural and urban areas and form a unit. The units as per the directions should have girls from these designated areas. To launch these societies, Government has been asked to provide the fund.
Not only keeping these girls dependent, the bench has directed to equip these girls with skills and impart training in handicraft, tailoring, knitting, poultry and analogous and identified jobs.
One of the suggestions read that the Societies/Cooperative Societies of these girls shall be provided all incentives to work. The products of these Societies/Cooperative Societies, shall be purchased by the Handicraft Department/Handicraft Corporation of the state. The payments to these Societies/Cooperative Societies shall be made at the time of purchase of the products itself.
Further profits earned by these government outlets shall be shared by Societies/Cooperative Societies in equal proportions. There would be separate fund for the marriages of these girls. The court has kept government at liberty to seek donations from “philanthropists”.
The court has asked Chief Secretary to file compliance report by or before next date on February 10 and added that “When the mechanism comes into existence, these poor girls would definitely not fall prey to the evil forces of the society and would be in a position to lead a life based on moral values and in a dignified manner.”
The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation—Mohammad Amin Beigh Vs State. It was initially a petition seeking quashing of PSA order at the pre-execution stage by Beigh, a resident of Kulgam.
The petition became the source for issuance of the directions for ameliorating the lot of the poor and hapless girls, who, because of extreme poverty, become susceptible to all kinds of exploitations.
Fatal DRIVE
In a different twist to the LAWDA’s demolition drive, one person died in Nigeen area on the banks of Dal Lake after its team entered a house for inspection.
The locals allege that 45 year-old-Mohammad Shafi died following harassment and thrashing by the LAWDA enforcement squad. They called it is a ‘cold murder’ while as the LAWDA spokesperson says Mir’s family was undertaking illegal construction for which they were already informed to stop.
Meanwhile, the Division Bench of State High Court has ordered its Reasi district administration to seal over 90 commercial and residential structures in Katra in view of the violation of Master Plan, Municipal Laws and Agrarian Reforms Act from last two years.
According to reports, the district administration will divide Katra town in different zones and each zone headed by Executive Magistrate will ensure implementation of directions of the High Court, sealing of illegal commercial and residential structures, whose number has been worked out at 91 by the concerned agencies.
Among the 91 commercial and residential structures, which will be sealed by the administration, 28 have come up in violation of Master Plan of Katra Development Authority, 27 in contravention of Municipal Laws and 36 in violation of Agrarian Reforms Act.
Judicial STAMP
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court ordered the cancellation of the admission to the students who had taken seats in MBBS and the other professional courses through fraudulent means in the 2012 Common Entrance Examination (CET).
Condemning the issue in which the deserving candidates have suffered the loss, the court has asked the BOPEE to submit a report on the actions taken on the listed names. After the scam became public the entire system is under scanner.
The decision came after the Crime Branch submitted the list of 12 candidates who had benefitted out of the CET paper leak scam 2012. The Crime Branch is investigating the entire matter in which the former Chairman of the Board of Professional Entrance Examination (BOPEE), Mushtaq Ahmed Peer is under custody. The crime branch has said that out of the 10 candidates whose credentials are being ascertained, details of the six have completed while the investigation of the other four is in progress.
A division bench comprising Virender Singh and Muzaffar Hussain Attar directed the steps in the case after pursuing the report submitted by the Crime Branch. A petition seeking investigation in the fraud of the CET 2012 was also filed in the court last week.
The bench said that the injustice have been done to the deserving students whose merit became a casualty because of the dubious and illegal acts of those who were entrusted the job of upholding the merit over everything and selecting only the deserving candidates.
Thus, the court emphasised on the order by saying that justice can be done only when the space taken by candidates with money and illegality be thrown out and the deserving be given the chance.
The developments in the case so far are that a local court extended the remand of the accused Peer and his accomplice Sajjad Ahmed by 15 days. It also directed the Crime Branch to expedite the investigation process of the scam.
